In Part I of this series I explained how my apartment was burglarized and how my first attempt to secure the place fell short for me in a few areas. I stated three goals that I had for the future: I want to setup and maintain a solid backup system for all of my data. DONE! I want to physically secure my Windows Home Server. I want to integrate my alarm and video surveillance systems. In Part II of this series I explained my backup strategy. Now in this post I’ll show you what I’m doing to fulfill...
First update on The Contest - let’s get this out of the way. I did NOT do well at all. Here are my numbers: Weight: 259 Body Fat: 25.5% Now having said that I do not feel too horrible (man I can justify anything, huh?) over the three worst eating holidays Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas I didn’t gain anything and I started to establish better habits. I made it to the gym on a “sporadically regular” basis. I ate better (not great but better). I did research (reading and taste tests) and found...
In Part I of this series I explained how my apartment was burglarized and how my first attempt to secure the place fell short for me in a few areas. I stated three goals that I had for the future: I want to setup and maintain a solid backup system for all of my data. I want to physically secure my Windows Home Server. I want to integrate my alarm and video surveillance systems. In this post I’ll show you what I’m doing to fulfill the first of my goals, creating a backup strategy for all of my data....
As some of you may know my apartment was burglarized a few months ago. It really sucked to come home after a long day at work to find a hole in the wall where my TV used to be. A slew of things were taken, obviously chosen by a group of individuals with the mental capacity of 12-year olds – as in take the time to rip the TV off the wall and pack up the XBox 360 controllers but leave the Denon receiver and speakers! I guess I should feel lucky that more of my stuff wasn’t taken but somehow I can’t...
I know you will find it hard to believe that my Windows Home Server (WHS) was running out of space since it has 3 terabytes of disk space which equates to about 2.73 TB of usable disk space. One day when perusing my WHS console I saw a scary sight… I realized that I was using over 2.5 terabytes of space or 92% of the usable space on my Home Server. Time to panic! Almost no room for error here! I was not happy with myself that I let my server get to this point but I took some solace in the fact that...
We found a great post from the Small Business Server team on how to join a Windows 7 machine to a SBS 2008 domain. From that post: This article details the known issues with using Windows 7 BETA as a member of an SBS 2008 domain. The steps in this article are for test purposes only. If you are using Windows 7 BETA you may encounter the following issues: Cannot join Windows 7 client to the domain using http:\\connect. IE 8.0 cannot open links on the SBS gadget. Cannot connect to Windows 7 client using...
I’m sure you’ve all heard of Bernie Madoff by now and if you haven’t the short version is that Mr. Madoff is the alleged perpetrator of of one of the largest ponzi schemes in history. The losses could top $50 billion dollars. Yes Billion. Just google for ‘Madoff fraud’ and you can read all of the news for yourself. One of my co-workers, Neil Chelo, suspected Madoff of being fraudulent years ago. He and his colleagues even tried to warn the SEC! One of Neil’s colleagues, Harry Markopolos testified...
So my GF did a great job of describing my first Yoga class… it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. It is funny it didn’t really hit me until we were in my truck driving to the studio that I’m not often completely out of my comfort zone in the sports and fitness world. I had NO idea what to expect in yoga class. None. While I’ve played most major sports (at least major in the US) and I’m comfortable in the gym (I’m not a gym rat by any means, give me the outdoors ANY time baby!), I’ve never...
I recently purchased a Blu-Ray drive for my media center PC I couldn’t resists as they are now under $100 shipped. As an self-respecting geek would do I immediately searched for the best most efficient way to play Blu-Ray discs (BDs) or BD rips on my sub $500 Home Theater PC. I read the post entitled Easy, Efficient Hi-Def Video Playback by Jeff Atwood in it he says: download the standalone MPC-HC filters. Extract MPCVideoDec.ax and copy it into c:\windows\system32\ Open a command prompt, navigate...
I’ve signed up for the 2009 LIVESTRONG Challenge in Seattle which will happen on June 21st 2009. Those of you not familiar with the event(s): The LIVESTRONG Challenge is the LAF's signature fundraising event. Whether you walk, run, ride, volunteer or donate, your participation is one more powerful weapon in the fight against cancer. If you are not familiar with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (apparently you’ve been living under a huge boulder!): The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) unites people...
For a long time now my birthday has been just another day of the year. Just another year gone by. It seems that the older we get the less important birthdays seem to be right. Considering this was my 39th birthday - yeah I wasn't too excited. Now dont get me wrong I don't mind my age... but yeah birthdays are for kids, right? Apparently not! This year was very different. The difference can be summed up in that my girlfriend, Marti, is the best girlfriend in the world! This is part one of two - yes...
After the incredible experience that I’ve had the last two years I will be riding in the 2008 Dam2Dam Bike Tour. In 2006 I was able to meet and ride with Greg LeMond, in 2007 Derek and I completed the 50 mile route on a tandem. This ride is extremely well organized from the check-in process to the ride support, rest stops, sag wagons and post ride BBQ. The experience has been amazing so far and to top it off the Dam2Dam will always be special to me since it is really what got me back into cycling....
Good article in the NYT back in early December regarding willpower. How to Boost Your Willpower - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog However, the research does help explain why dieters who eat several small meals a day appear to do better at sticking to a diet than dieters who skip meals. “You need the energy from food to have the willpower to exert self-control in order to succeed on your diet,'’ said Dr. Baumeister...
I love Google 411 - it is one of the best enhancements (application?) for my smartphone. SmartPhones are great but as anyone who has used one while driving can attest they can be dangerous. With great power comes responsibility! I will admit that I've used Google Maps for Mobile and Windows Live Search Mobile while driving- NOT SAFE. Yes, Windows Live Search has added voice commands but they don't seem to work very well for me. Oh well, I'm sure MSFT will get it nailed. Until then I have my phone...
Back in May I posted about setting up my AT&T 8525 and Windows Mobile and a few hacks and tweaks... this post is basically a complete replacement for those posts and is the result of using the phone daily for over six months. I've tried many applications, hacks and tweaks in the past six months and here is a list of the applications I have installed and how I set each of them up. A ton of credit goes to GollyJer for pointing out most of the applications I've tried! The first major change is now...
This is a posting of an email that I sent out to several of my friends a couple months ago. It was meant to be sort of a realistic, slap in the face, tough love, round-about motivational email to the best bunch of friends a guy could ever hope to have. We all struggle with weight problems. I have had some success over the past few years so I wanted to share so of my insight with them. The text has been slightly modified from the original email (my parents read my blog!). I'm under 250 for the first...
After the incredible experience that I had last year I will, of course, be riding in the 2007 Dam2Dam "Thumbs Up!" Bike Tour. For those of you aren't familiar with the 2006 story you can find the details here. The short version is that this ride will always be special to me since it is what got me back into cycling (technically it was my neighbor, Rob who got me back into cycling but the Dam2Dam cemented the come back!) Since the 2006 Dam2Dam I've ridden over 1200 miles including a one-day 150 mile...
I visited MapMyRide several months ago while looking for good GPS/cycling mashups. Back then I remember thinking that there was promise. I ultimately decided on Gmap Podometer for my map making needs - which is basically limited to bicycling routes. Looks like MapMyRide has gone through a major upgrade into the Web 2.0 world. Wow have they changed! Yesterday Lifehacker had a post about the new mapmyride.com so I went to take a look. I see awesome stuff just perusing the menus. Tons of promise here....
I recently purchased the MOTOROKR S9 headphones to use with my new Cingular AT&T 8525 (HTC TyTn/Hermes) Windows Mobile device/phone. One feature that attracted me to my new phone was BlueTooth A2DP support. I want to be able to use my phone as a music source when cycling. I figure that since I need to carry my phone with me anyway it might as well serve double duty as my portable music player. First ImpressionOkay - I'm not a big fan of all of the unboxing videos that you can find on YouTube...
Shortly after unboxing my Cingular AT&T 8525 (HTC TyTn/Hermes) I started researching the best applications to install, the best registry tweaks to apply and generally reading up on the device and Windows Mobile 5. I found that quite a bit of time and effort has been spent complaining about and discussing fact that the "X" button does not actually close applications, rather it minimizes (hides) them. Upon further reading I found that Spb PocketPlus was a popular solution that allows users to make...
**UPDATE: See my most recent build-out/setup post. I have already made it pretty clear that I love my HTC Hermes. I've compiled a list of applications I've installed on my device - to help it be the best it can be. Many thanks to GollyJer for doing much of the research so that all I had to do was install and play. Applications The current stable of applications that I have installed HandySwitcher: $9.99. A very... ummm Handy task switcher. Simple. Easy to use. Cheap. PhoneAlarm: $24.95. Awesome application....
I just purchased a Cingular At&T 8525 (aka HTC Hermes). So far I'm extremely happy with the device. I've held off upgrading to a PDA/SmartPhone/Windows Mobile device because I was never happy with the options. It is pretty sad that a card-carrying geek like myself was turned off by device selection until just this year. I liked the Motorola Q and the T-Mobile Dash but not enough to prompt me to pull the trigger. I also really liked the HTC Wizard (TMobile MDA, Cingular 8125) but I wasn't sure...
I saw this on Scott Hanselman's blog Computer Zen in the post titled Web 2.0 Explained in Video by Michael Wesch I've watched the video three times now. Very cool. It really started me thinking about the future of technology, the future of the web, the future of information and the future that our kids will enjoy (or despise). Convergence of meat space and the virtual world. I already connect many real-word activities to the Internet - like bicycling. I love to upload my GPS tracks to MotionBased...
[via ScottGu] Tip/Trick: Patterns and Practices Guidance Explorer for .NET and ASP.NET The Guidance Explorer provides a database of recommendations and best practices for ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and the .NET Framework that you can easily filter and search. Particularly useful are some of the checklists you can easily follow for performance and security best practices prior to deployment...
Okay I did it. I registered for a 100 mile ride on September 30th. Yes THIS year... 2006. http://www.mikeutley.org/bi... I have about 38 days to get ready to ride 100 miles. I don't know what I was thinking - but at least I don't have much time to worry! I'm going on my first training ride today. This bike tour is to benefit the Mike Utley foundation. If you don't remember Mike Utley here is a brief reminder: "It was November 17, 1991 the Detroit Lions had scored in a crucial game against...
This is a very cool photo and excellent accompanying how-to article from Mike Fedler’s Focus on Photography: http://www.fedler.com/scope... needed for Astro Photography (assuming you have a camera and telescope!)T-Rings (for Nikon or Canon DSLRs) (http://www.telescope.com/j... $17Meade: T-Adapter (http://www.telescopes.com/... $35Bushnell: T-Adapter: (http://www.telescopes.com/...
Yes I’ve been evaluating agile project tracking apps / solutions. Kind of painful to tell the truth. One major problem I have is that my team is not truly XP or Scrum – we are pretty agile but we do (for various regulatory purposes) insert non-agile principles into our processes. I often joke that we are more nimble than agile. I think our team does a serious kick-ass job with what we have to work it is sometimes hard to squeeze our process into a tool meant for XP or Scrum. The other...
No doubt about it The Daily WTF is my new favorite site. I’ve been sending links out to coworkers on a reqular basis for about a week now… this site is just priceless. I laugh out loud every stinkin’ day. Here is one of today’s entries: Josh Breckman worked for a company that landed a contract to develop a content management system for a fairly large government website. Much of the project involved developing a content management system so that employees would be able to build...
273.4 pounds with 23.1 body fat. As I predicted this was a tough week… no excuses but Microsoft does provide ample crap-food to conference attendees. Training Weights: Thursday, Saturday, Monday – typical workout all three nights. Only bummer is that I could have made this a 4–workout week and I didn’t. I got home late from the conference on Wednesday and just slacked. Oops. Cardio: Yeah. STILL need to improve here. Food Conference food sucked. All-in-all though I didn’t...
Developing Workflows for the 2007 Microsoft Office System and Windows SharePoint Service “v3”Basic steps for workflow development Model workflow in VS Create and bind InfoPath forms Deploy to SharePoint Server Debug the running workflow Examples use the Office “12” SharePoint Servers Beta 1 TR Starter kit – which adds a project type “SharePoint Sequential Workflow…” Types of InfoPath forms in Workflows Association form when user adds workflow to a...
I spent the second half of the day in .Net Development on Microsoft SharePoint Technologies . * tracks. Not a lot of in-depth code but Mike Ammerlaan supplied a great overview of WSS development in the Office 2007 world. Here are my notes – not a lot of detail here hopefully that will come in future posts (oh – and I’m sure mistakes are mine not Mike’s): Cross-site groups seem very useful You can finally make required properties (meta data) required. It seems that they have...
Thomas Erl, the author of Service-Oriented Architecture : Concepts, Technology, and Design and Service-Oriented Architecture : A Field Guide to Integrating XML and Web Services (hands-down the two best SOA books on the market) runs this site: [from this post: ServiceOrientation.org] I spent a good amount of time researching service-orientation in preparation for solution designs and while writing my second book about SOA. I found it interesting how the IT industry, as a whole, is moving toward a...
I love Dare Obasanjo’s blog – it is always a great read. In a recent post Dare points out that everyone is raving about “new” Google features that Microsoft has had for months (or years). Domain hosting (http://domains.live.com/) IM Integration with email (http://www.hotmail.com) Desktop Search (http://www.microsoft.com/w... I’m really glad I read Dare’s post… I just moved my personal email over to http://domains.live.com –...
As if I didn’t think the Jakob was a big enough idiot (he is). He’s now saying that Search Engines are Leeches on the Web becasue the businesses that are found must *gasp* improve themselevs to compete with other businesses who can also be found through search engines. What next, man? A communist web so that all sites can be of the same economic ilk? Do nothing and you'll disappear when your competitors improve enough to easily outbid you and therefore consume all the space on the first...
Almost a year ago now we bought a very nice entertainment center and for a year we’ve had to leave the front doors open. (yes those are stuffed animals on top – a temporary home I assure you) Two reasons, really. First is that our infrared remotes will not work through the wood doors. Second, I’m afraid that the components would overheat. My buddy Johnboy turned me on to the HotLink IR Extender but for almost a year now I’ve been looking for a cooling solution to jump out...
I thought I would combine a few components that really aren’t all that special. Don’t get me wrong, these are pretty important components but I’m not going to tell you much that you don’t know about an AMD Opteron. Processors: (2) AMD Opteron 246 The decision was between the Intel Xeon and the AMD Opteron. I was swayed over to AMD by three facts. Opterons use less power than an equivalent Xeon. Opterons create less heat than an equivalent Xeon. I like AMD’s dual-core...
I thought I would combine a few components that really aren’t all that special. Don’t get me wrong, these are pretty important components but I’m not going to tell you much that you don’t know about an AMD Opteron. Processors: (2) AMD Opteron 246 The decision was between the Intel Xeon and the AMD Opteron. I was swayed over to AMD by three facts. Opterons use less power than an equivalent Xeon. Opterons create less heat than an equivalent Xeon. I like AMD’s dual-core...
I have chosen the Tyan Thunder K8WE (S2895) dual AMD Opteron motherboard as the basis for my TB Server. MaximumPC chose this board to power their 2005 Dream Machine (aka DMX) and PlanetAMD64 picked this board for their ultimate graphics workstation. Yeah, I really wish I would have found the PlanetAMD64 article sooner – it would have saved me many hours of research into motherboards and cases! This was really a no-brainer selection as the Thunder K8WE has it all – the detailed specifications...
TB Server: The CaseThe CoolerMaster Stacker 810 is awesome. I searched very hard for a rack-mount case but nothing I could find met all of my requirements. Honestly no rack mount solution can touch the features of the Stacker 810. I think most rack-mount cases are meant to be deployed in an air-conditioned environment since none seem to offer killer cooling solutions. Two of my biggest needs are space for 10+ hard drives and plenty of cooling. I’m a little paranoid about cooling for my servers....
In my first post on this subject, I Need More Hard Drive Space I casually state at the end that “I am seriously considering a complete server retrofit (Option 4?) in order to get a 64-bit PCI or PCI-X slot or both.” Well folks I decided to take the plunge, that it was time to completely retire my two old workhorse servers Apollo and Athena which are both dual PIIIs with 512MB of RAM and assorted 120GB – 200GB IDE hard drives. And yes – by retire I mean make them useful Linux...
I’m trying to bide my time until I get my XBox 360 – found this in a search. Interesting open workspace… very collaborative / agile! Damn… makes me want to get my Certificate in Game Programming from the University of Washington. [via Mat Noguchi - Developer on Halo team gives tour of Bungie] Mat Noguchi is a developer at Bungie. Don't know who they are? That's the Microsoft group that developed Halo 2. Halo 2!We get the first tour of Bungie's new offices. He talks about...
I am quickly running out of hard drive space. My current home network consists of four PC workstations – a combination of desktops and laptops, two Xboxes and two servers. The servers are all old (dual proc P3s) bust still serve a purpose. Every time I need more drive space I buy whatever is on sale at Fry’s and shove it in one of my servers. No RAID, no redundancy. I do run nightly backups of the important stuff (digital pictures etc.) to another drive and then move those off to DVD...
My buddy JohnBoy has an awesome entry that shows about the power of the Internet and blogging in particular. He is a Real Estate Agent located in Washington state and a new client located in North Carolina (roughly 3000 miles away) found him and decided to work with him via his blog. That is awesome. [via John's Blog - Amazing . . .] One of her first questions was "You probably want to know where I found you huh?" and I have to admit I WAS curious. She went on to tell me she found me right here....
This may be old news but just stumbled across NSurvey – very cool stuff. [via The NSurvey project ] The NSurvey project NSurvey is a free web based survey and form engine software toolkit for Microsoft's .net. Written in pure managed C#, NSurvey aims anyone who needs to collect quickly valuable information from customers, visitors or employees. Why continue to spend thousands of $$ on expensive and closed survey packages ?!Thanks to the flexibilty of the NSurvey form engine and to the ASP.net...
Recently I've been thinking about teaching a programming class at my son's elementary school (grades K-5). This would be an after-school hour long class once (may be twice) per week for 6-8 weeks probably restricted to 4th and 5th graders. The school has a nice computer lab with 20 fairly new Dell desktops. Lets assume that I have until the beginning December 2005 to get something setup (research, plan, create lessons, install software etc.)Now for the question... I am a .Net (primarily c# but I've...
I gotta say this first: The BillG video with Napoleon Dynamite was awesome. It was so good that even after all of the cool announcements I was wishing that there would have been one more video break with our buddy Napoleon. No? FINE! IDIOTS! There was so much cool stuff that I’m sure I am missing lots of things… it was so crowded that I didn’t dare open my laptop. It was so long it was hard to remember everything. Information overload. I will try to be better about taking notes...
I wanted to share my own ten step program for debugging. I have borrowed much of the information and some is my own. Really understand the system: Read the manual, read everything in depth, know the fundamentals, know the road map, understand your tools and look up the details. I can't tell you how much time I've seen wasted by developers who just didn't understand the system well enough to diagnose a problem. This only gets worse the farther you are into integration testing. Reproduce the issue....
Overview A little over two months ago a friend of mine sent me a link to this great article Bubble Bubble Build's In Trouble at PragmaticAutomation.com regarding project & build monitoring and eXtreme feedback in the form of red and green Lava Lamps. All of the code and libraries provided by the team over at pragmaticautomation.com are in Java and I am a .Net developer… naturally (after Google-ing for a .Net solution) I decided to write my own. By the way if you haven't read any of the...